We sampled fragrances made from microbes and we're convinced they're the future of the industry

“A rose by any other name would smell as sweet,” or so said Shakespeare.

But what if that smell didn’t come from a rose, but instead from baker’s yeast?

Boston-based startup Ginkgo Bioworks is doing just that — tinkering with the genes of yeast — the microscopic fungus that makes bread rise — to make it produce the sweet, musky smell of a rose and other scents.

Eventually, the company hopes to sell these fragrances to perfume makers as a replacement for natural or synthetic scents, Christina Agapakis, creative director of Ginkgo Bioworks, told Business Insider at Biofabricate, a conference about biology, art, and design held this month in New York City.

And they’re working on more than fragrances. Ginkgo Bioworks is also getting into the field of probiotics — cultivating the “good” microbes that keep our digestive system healthy, instead of letting “bad” bacteria like Clostridium difficile from running rampant and making us sick.